Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200209 : vimarsana.com

Hello and welcome to dateline. They were a couple with a bright future. She was a selfconfident 19yearold known for her beautiful voice. He was her devoted boyfriend with big ambitions. Then a brutal attack shattered their dreams. It was a crime that would shake a small southern town to its core and pit a family against the community they called home. Heres Keith Morrison with, what happened to the beauty queen . Look at her. Look at the young woman at the heart of our story. You can see how lovely she is. The young beauty queen. Can you see her vulnerability . By now your First Impression is probably locked in. Its very unlikely to change, and certainly thats how it was in russellville, arkansas, a town where a First Impression hardened like a patch of cement. About her and also, for better or worse, about the young man accused of killing her. The boyfriend found the body. The boyfriend who found the body. First impressions die hard, including First Impressions of murder. And years later in this small southern town, we had to ask, can they ever change . Of course, that question is quite obvious now to kevin jones, but years ago he didnt give a think who he impressed or who didnt. All he knew was this. He was going places. He was from a good family. Lived near a wonderful city called russellville and was well liked. Oh, and was adored by one girl in particular, his High School Sweetheart nona. She was kind of like a soul mate, i suppose. Yeah. I was closer to her than anybody else. He was going to marry her some day. She was, after all, about the prettiest girl in town. Local beauty pageant judges were wowed by her looks and poise. They had already crowned her as such. But heres another truth her boyfriend came to realize. Beauty really isnt everything. Nona was a sometimes troubled girl given to bouts of emotional turmoil. Her mother was grateful to kevin for making her daughter happy. Kevin was really interested in helping nona get through some of the hard times she was having. He seemed to be a really caring person. He even brought nona into his own family. His mom janice, dad hiram treated her as one of their own. She was not a girlfriend or whatever. She was a she was our family. When it was time for kevin to go after college, he and nona stayed in touch and in love through a Wireless World of late night chats, texts and emoticons. When he didnt respond, she would wag her finger at him. She would send me text messages, are you alive . Sarcastically trying to get my attention. Which is why he was so taken aback that day a little more than a week before christmas in 2005. It was december 15th. Nona uncharacteristically hadnt reached out to him or answered him since morning. At one point he turned her old taunt back on her, texting, you alive . Even then she didnt respond. This was not like nona. 4 1 2 years we had made a pattern, and thats what we did every day. And if that pattern is broken, it just kind of raised a red flag in my head, why is she not responding . Were you worried . I was concerned. Who knows why things work out the way they do . On that particular night kevin was supposed to drive his mom janice to a christmas party. She remembers being in the car with him. And i said, well, you know, theres lots of reasons why she might not answering her phone, you know. Maybe her plans changed. But by now kevin could think of nothing else. He called his buddy ryan who delivered pizza near nonas apartment, asked him to check on her. And ryan called back with something erie. Her car was in the lot. Her house lights were on, but she wasnt answering the door. And i said, okay. Im going to come over there. They pulled up to nonas front door. Ryan was still there. Kevin joined him. Ryan and i knocked and knocked and rang the doorbell. Nobody came. And we started to get a little frantic. So the two men ran around the condo to nonas back door. Kevin says he rushed up to the sliding glass door without taking a moment to look inside. So when i was grabbing the handle, ryan touched me and he said, do you not see her . I looked at him and said, dudes, there she is. She was laying in her front room. Nona wasnt moving. Kevin threw open the unlocked door and rushed inside. Ryan at one point let my mom in the front door. They called 911 pretty soon after that. Nona dirksmeyer . I straddled her midsection. She wasnt breathing. Her eyes usually luminous. There was no light, nothing at that time all. I talked to her and just prayed that everything was going to be okay until the ems got there. Soon a little apartment was overwhelmed by paramedics and police. It wasnt long before an officer took kevin aside. Janice listened as her sons voice suddenly rose above the chaos. Then i heard him cry out. With a howl . Yeah, thats what it was. And then he asked them if she was dead. And they affirmed, yes, she was. Nona was gone. Nothing kevin could do about it. And as he tried to absorb the enormity of what had happened, he heard a police man ask, could he come downtown, please . They had a few questions about what happened to nona. Coming up. Did kevin know what happened . Police seem to think so. Did you fight recently . We never been in a fight. Watch what happened when police were not asking questions. Oh, my god please tell me what am i going to do . When dateline continues. Whoa, this is awful, try it. Oh no, that looks gross what is that . You gotta try it, its terrible. I dont wanna tray it if its terrible. Its like mango chutney and burnt hair. No thank you, i have a very sensitive palate. Just try it hey guys, i think we should hurry up. If you taste something bad, you want someone else to try it. Its what you do. I cant get it out of my mouth if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Dog, dog, dog. Aleve it. With aleve pm. Pain happens. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid. And the 12hour pain relieving strength of aleve. So. Magic mornings happen. Theres a better choice. Aleve pm. Thenot actors, people, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin. And, had significantly less itch. Thats a difference you can feel. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. If you take asthma medicines, dont change or stop them without talking to your doctor. So help heal your skin from within, and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. Hi susan honey . Yeah . I respect that. But that cough looks pretty bad. Try this robitussin honey. The real honey you love. Plus the powerful cough relief you need. Mind if i root through your trash . Robitussin honey. Because its never just a cough. There he is. Oh, wow. Youre doing, uh, youre doing really great with the twirling. Dad, if you want to talk, i have a break at 3 00. Okay, okay. Im going. Im gone. Like like i wasnt here. [ horn honks ] keep keep doing it, buddy. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. In pictures, Nona Dirksmeyer ever radiates promise and beauty. But there is something ugly that lives on, too. Her death and the way she was so brutally taken. Nonas mother carol knew it was bad. The moment she arrived that night to see police at nonas apartment. I told them i wanted to see my baby. They told me, of course, you cant. They had the crime scene tape up and everything. The police told carol it was horribly obvious nona had been murdered. But they were on the case, they told her. In fact, they were already trying to break down nonas last moments on earth. When had you last spoke with her . 1 00 last night i called her from my house phone. Questioning the man who may have known her best. Were you in a fight recently . We didnt fight. Kevin jones seemed eager to help the police figure out who killed his girlfriend. He went to the Police Station to answer a few routine questions. What happened . I called and she didnt answer. I thought maybe her phone was dead. Kevin careened from what looked like disbelief to grief. Anger. And back again. A couple questions. A few questions turned into many. Did you have a key to the apartment . Yes. And were pointed. Did you hurt her . I would never i would kill myself before i hurt her. They would leave me alone in the room. They would ask me questions. Oh, my god. Oh, please tell me what am i going to do . After awhile the police told kevin, you could go home. They had other people to talk to, young men nona had been seeing while kevin was away at college. It wasnt long before the detectives found out the alibis of the other men checked out. As he prepared to say goodbye at the funeral home, police asked him to come back to the Police Station. After 20 minutes with the questions, they asked if i would take a polygraph test. What did you say . I said sure. So they strapped him up and ran through the innocuous questions, and then did you cause the death of Nona Dirksmeyer . And then they went out, analyzed it, came back and said what . The man who gave it to me said he had not seen anybody fail a test worse in his 28 or some odd years of giving lie detector tests. Kevin, theres no doubt in my mind that you killed her. The murder of the beauty queen was very big in russellville. Given the nature of the crime, the victim so pretty, the pressure to solve it was quite intense. Imagine how it was for the lead detective mark frost given this was his first homicide case. Though as he talked to kevin, he sounded like a veteran who had seen it all, and was disgusted. You did this. No. Im telling you, youre dead [ bleep ] wrong. You killed her. Im telling you right now. Point blank. No, im telling you right here. At this point it wasnt a questioning. It was more of them yelling at me telling me they knew that i did it. Listen. Yet the police didnt arrest kevin that night. Heres what they did instead. The man they thought would be nonas husband one day was he was the killer. I was told he was a sociopath with a narcissistic personality. Nona had been stabbed repeatedly. They said this was a personal attack, not something a stranger would have done, but something kevin could have. Now carol had two shocks to absorb. I knew hed done it. I knew in my heart it was someone she knew. She would never let anyone in the apartment she didnt know. So now kevins horrifying discovery was subjected to a dark and troubling spin. Detective mark frost said that to him, the crime scene up there looked staged. And a week later there was a press conference, at which the police told the russellville public, dont worry, we know who committed this crime. Police didnt mention the suspects name just then, but it wasnt long before everybody in russellville knew perfectly well it was kevin jones. This is what appeared in the russellville courier three months after nonas murder. Nonas killer remains free, and Russellville Police department has requested formal charges against one suspect. Hiram jones is kevins father. They tried, convicted and sentenced kevin within 90 days of it happening. If you was a stranger walking in as coffee shop visiting russellville and you read that, what would you think . It bothered kevins mother something awful when bumper stickers, justice for nona, started cropping up. After all, she loved nona, too. The assumption that i formed and i think many people formed was that justice for nona meant convict kevin . Convict kevin. Topping our news, police make an arrest in the murder of a 19yearold arkansas beauty queen. On march 31st, 2006, not long after that courier article, police finally did announce the arrest of kevin jones for the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer. Whether or not kevin was convicted in the court of Public Opinion was irrelevant, he was when to stand trial, about to be convicted in where it mattered, a court of law. A print on a lamp used to kill nona, a lamp. No question it was his. On another piece of evidence . The dna was some other males. When dateline. Continues. S. Ot speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. My son, he did say that you were the safe option. And thats the nicest thing you ever said to me. So get allstate. Stop bossing. Where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. This is my sons favorite color, you should try it. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady . [tina] youre an old lady. Americans have come to lendingtree. Com to shop and compare their loans and credit cards for over 20 years. Now with the new lending tree app you can go beyond loan shopping and see your full Financial Health, including your free credit score, ongoing credit monitoring, your current cash flow and financial future. Then it automatically compares your current loans and credit card payments to their network of lenders and shows you where you can cut your monthly bills. Download it now to check your Financial Health and see how much you can save. A small southern city. A local beauty queen murdered. Her boyfriend accused of the crime. It was hard to be in russellville in 2007 and not be steeped in the story of Nona Dirksmeyer and kevin jones. This case probably had more statewide publicity than any criminal case in many, many years, perhaps ever, in arkansas. Yet of course kevin had a right to a fair trial and impartial jury. His lawyers argued that would be impossible in a place like russellville. Sought venue was changed to the nearby city of ozark. The spotlight is on the small northwest arkansas town of ozark as jury selection to the prosecutor the trials location mattered little. What did matter was the evidence. And he believed there was enough of that to put kevin jones away for years. Jeff phillips was the deputy prosecutor. We believed and i believed that the morning of her death kevin jones came in unexpectedly when the trial opened in 2007 the prosecutor told the jury the reason for this crime was as old as the bible itself. Jealous rage. Kevin jones had walked into his lovers apartment that day in december of 2005 and found within it a cheating heart. While there discovered either a text message from another person and or a used condom rapper on the counter. And things escalated from there. Escalated out of control. And then the prosecutor said with jones repeatedly stabbing nona, then crushing her skull with a lamp base, left his palm print on the lamps bulb. No question it was his . No question it was his. The defense didnt even make an issue that it was his. But its what kevin did next, said the prosecutor, that showed how calculating he could be. Kevin left nonas apartment, he said, with her dead on the floor, then waited through the afternoon until hours later when he could come back with his mother and friend to find nonas body. In my opinion an intentional attempt to be to have someone else find her but him. Trying to make himself look innocent. If that wasnt telling enough, the prosecutors said, then surely this was. Kevin jones police interview. Right there the prosecutor told the jury was kevins capacity for violence, in full view. Sitting and listening to this, kevins father worried how easy it would be for jurors to convict his son. It was just a nightmare. Yet kevins parents never wavered in their belief that their son was just as innocent as he told the police he was. They even bet the family farm on it. We put it up as collateral. And used the money to buy their son the best defense they could. And he needed it. Kevins lawyers knew, their client had become the local poster boy for evil. When youve got something that was this serious, that is this bad, this girl was brutally murdered somebodys got to pay. Somebody has to pay. Somebody. But not kevin, said attorney michael robbins. They sent the readout of that polygraph to an independent expert who reported that the questions seemed designed to make sure kevin failed. And the rest of the states evidence, said the defense, didnt wash either. That bloody palm print on the light bulb of the lamp, the murder weapon. Attorney bill bristol agreed it was kevins print. And no wonder it was. Kevin was frantically trying to save his girlfriends life. So of course he could have touched the light bulb. It is a totally innocent situation. The blood got on the lightbulb at the time the body was discovered. When hes trying to revive her or something . Yes. Hence the lightbulb. The emt said the lamp was within a foot of the body. More disturbing . The evidence not collected by the police. Said the defense, firsttime homicide detective mark frost and the other officers in the department mucked up the case royally. The only area that was fingerprinted was the area around the body. That there was blood near the front door. There was blood on the venetian blinds. The condom wrapper short distance from the body. The police go upstairs to see if thats been flushed. Do not fingerprint the flush handle of the commode, dont dna that, dont dna anything up there. In fact, the defense did its own dna testing, on that condom wrapper. By the prosecutions account it was a key piece of evidence, the thing that likely set kevin off on his murderous rage. But think about it, said lead attorney kenny johnson. If kevin actually saw the condom wrapper, he would have picked it up, would have left his own dna on it. But we sent the prophylactic wrapper off to a lab, and they found the dna. The dna was some other male. Someone elses dna, not kevins. And probably, said the defense, that condom was used by the killer. But who . Neither defense nor prosecution had an answer for that. The dna didnt match anybody in the data base. And kevins lawyers did have this. An alibi for their client. Kevins grandmother told the court he couldnt have killed nona because he was with her, miles away in the town of dover around the time the state said nona died. She is a genuine, downtoearth, very levelheaded person. She was an incredible witness on the stand. But there was one compelling piece of evidence in the prosecutions case, said the defense, and they just wanted jurors to see more of it. That police video of kevin. She didnt deserve this. She deserved a life. The defense had jurors watch all of it. It was betting this image would convince jurors they should change what may have been that First Impression and decide kevin wasnt the killer the prosecutors had painted but a griefstricken young man who was innocent. So what to believe . In the courthouse the jury wrestled with its verdict. 50 miles down the road in russellville the town cried for justice. If that meant conviction, well, so be it. Would jurors convict kevin jones of murder . And whose dna was on that key piece of evidence . Coming up i said it matches. He said, well, it matches gary dunn. Who was gary dunn, and what if anything did he have to do with nonas murder . When dateline continues. Well somebodys gotta pick it up ill pick it up theyre clean cuz my hineys clean. Oh yeah im charmin clean. Thats how i know theyre clean. Charmin ultra strong is woven like a washcloth and just cleans better. Yeah, im charmin clean. Thats right my hineys clean. The kid does have a point enjoy the go with charmin. And for an extra clean finish. Try charmin flushable wipes. You have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . the sun is risin as the day begins time for reflectin on family and friends and hey, we got somethin just for you sniffing its a cup of your favoriiiite. loud splashing highpitched laughter dang woodchucks with geico, the savings keep on going. Just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. Hello. Im dara brown. Heres whats happening. U. S. Embassy in beijing is reporting the first u. S. Death from coronavirus. The 60yearold american died in a hospital in wuhan, china. There have been 811 deaths from the virus in mainland, china. Two u. S. Troops are killed and six others wounded in an attack in afghanistan. The military spokesman said they were conducting a joint operation when someone wearing an afghan uniform opened fire on soldiers. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline. Im craig melvin. Kevin jones was on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nona Dirksmeyer. Prosecutors painted kevin as a jealous boyfriend whose bloody palm print found at the scene was evidence he committed the crime. The defense countered that kevin left the print while trying to save nonas life. It was time for the jury to decide the young mans fate. Here again is Keith Morrison with what happened to the beauty queen . Kevin jones sat in the courtroom, watched the fight for his life swirl around him, and felt in that uncomfortable chair the withering stares of the jury. They can all look at you, and if you do one thing wrong, that they deem is wrong, that might sway them the opposite way. One facial expression. One click of a pen. One bite off of your fingernail. You never know how people are going to take things that you do. He had every reason to worry. Later the jurors would recall how the images of this crime haunted them. Blood all over him in the pictures. The palm print in her blood. But to the jurors the evidence or the lack of it looked bad for police too. The glass door, for example, where the perpetrator went out was not fingerprinted inside or out. The Kitchen Floor would have been excellent for footprints. He obviously walked across there. No prints were taken. They said that kind of sloppiness made them wonder, what else did the police miss . What other suspects . The police claimed that they had checked the alibis of all these potential suspects. As well as they gathered evidence . But what really stuck with them was kevin sitting in the Police Interrogation room looking to them genuinely distraught. I felt bad inside that i was watching him in this little cubicle of a room. On balance they agreed. The evidence pointed more to innocence than guilt. After eight hours they had their verdict. Not guilty. Kevin was freed. Relieved of course but also furious at detective mark frost and the Russellville Police. It frustrates me. It angers me that the police didnt care enough to do their jobs the right way. It frustrates me that they didnt find the person who did this. But nonas mother, carol, believed her daughters old boyfriend had quite possibly just gotten away with murder. If you think somebody else did, it why arent you out there trying to find them . Who could begrudge a grieving mothers bitter challenge . Certainly not the jones family. On the day kevin was acquitted they stood here on the steps of the courthouse and they vowed they would do whatever it took to find nonas killer. Kevins father hiram, financially wiped out by the cost of all this, asked his sons legal team for one more favor. I said, this is what ive got. Dont know how much i need. Dont know how i can pay you. But i need this. The lawyers agreed to help. They asked an investigator, this man, to keep working the case. His name is todd steffy. Hes a parttime policeman in kevins hometown of dover, just outside russellville. Parttime detective and fulltime preacher. An odd combination. Oh, i used to say its the ultimate good guy. And right away steffy knew there was a key piece of evidence that demanded a closer look. That condom wrapper found in nonas apartment. It held somebodys dna, but whose . Steffy wondered if police cleared those male friends and neighbors of nona too quickly in the early days of the investigation. Do they have a valid alibi . Because either im missing something or, you know and so i began to feel like that some of those people maybe needed to have their dna compared. So kevins legal team rolled up its sleeves and slacks and went diving through trash, belonging to those young men. And they got some dna samples. But none matched the dna on the condom wrapper. Steffy, the policeman preacher, needed a lead. You could say he needed a miracle. And wouldnt you know, he got it. It came in the most mundane way. Two months after kevins acquittal and more than a year after nonas death steffys police chief told him to question a suspect in a recent burglary, a man by the name of gary dunn. Steffys eyes widened at that. My chief looked at me and i said do you know who he is . He said yes. He was one of the neighbors to Nona Dirksmeyer. Gary dunn, a neighbor of nonas. He was among that handful of men whod been questioned, then cleared by police. Steffy knew that dunn certainly would have had the opportunity to kill. His bedroom window looked directly across a small parking lot at nonas bedroom window. Now, steffy had to get that mans dna. Howd you do that . I asked him for it. And he said yes . Basically. I just asked him if he would be willing to give me his fingerprints and a dna sample. If i can rule them out, then were done. But there was a problem. To get that sample tested steffy needed the cashstrapped jones family to pay for it. At first kevins mother hesitated. The test would cost about 600. But the investigator insisted. What did she say . Eventually, she just kind of said Something Like oh, shucks, its just money. So she paid for it. And what a good investment it turned out to be. Because weekends later steffy got a call from one of kevins lawyers. The dna tests were back. And wouldnt you know. I said it matches, doesnt it . He said, well, it matches gary dunn. The results strongly suggested the dna on that condom wrapper was left by nonas neighbor, gary dunn. Now steffy needed to check out dunns alibi for the day nona was killed. Dunn had told police he was out shopping with his mother around the time of the murder, december 15th. That was his alibi. So steffy went looking for copies of receipts from those stores to back up the alibi. So this is the store where supposedly gary dunn came to do some shopping. This was one of the places we had to check out in his alibi. The store had boxes and boxes of records, of receipts. It was the oldfashioned sign the slip kind of receipt. Hes not kidding. Boxes going back years. Steffy rooted through piles of forgotten paper. How many boxes did you go through . I have no idea. Hours and hours . I think i have tried to forget that. And just when steffy thought it was all a wasted effort, he pulled out this scrap. Did you find it . I found it. I found it. There it was. A receipt that showed gary and his mom were out shopping, all right, on december 13th. Not the 15th when they said they were, when nona was murdered. It wasnt the same day at all. No. In fact, none of the receipts from the store where dunn and his mother said they were shopping gave him an alibi for the time nona was killed. Police and the prosecutor didnt mention that at kevins trial. But now a new prosecutor was on the case and he found the dna results and faulty alibi compelling. And one year after kevins acquittal gary dunn was charged with murder. Many people in russellville struggled to know what to think. Their First Impression was that kevin jones murdered Nona Dirksmeyer. Did they believe this latest arrestee was the real killer . And could the state of arkansas prove it . Coming up gary dunn was the one on trial. So why did it seem as if kevin jones was as well . The first thing you get hit with is your son is on trial again. Even though hes not on trial, he is. When dateline continues. Or we could do a hail of coupons . I can assure you gina, the enemy does not fear coupons. Well there are no bad ideas. Yah, except coupons. Possibly the best yogurt in the world. Wheyou want relief. Fast. Only thermacare ultra pain relieving cream has 4 active ingredients to fight pain 4 different ways. Get powerful relief today, with thermacare. I wanted more from my copd medicine thats why ive got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved oncedaily 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy the power of 1,2,3 trelegy 1,2,3 trelegy woman with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Think your copd medicine is doing enough . Maybe you should think again. Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3. Trelegy, 1,2,3 woman save at trelegy. Com. Trelegy, 1,2,3 big thing i recently learned as a parent . Babys skin is absorbent. Her skin could actually soak up wetness her diaper doesnt. Thats gross. Thats why i use pampers. Pampers absorbs quickly to trap and lock wetness away. Keeping your babys skin drier and healthier. For a diaper that stays drier, count on pampers. The health of your babys skin starts with the pampers theyre in. Aleve it. With aleve pm. Pain happens. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid. And the 12hour pain relieving strength of aleve. So. Magic mornings happen. Theres a better choice. Aleve pm. Whether your beauty routine is 3or 57,. Make natures bounty hair skin and nails step one. Its the number one brand uniquely formulated for silky hair, glowing skin and healthy nails. Look for our coupon in sundays paper. Kevin joness parents had won and lost. They had won freedom for their son kevin but had lost a young woman they considered a daughter. They wanted justice so badly for nona, they spent their last dime to find her killer. And they believed their sacrifice finally paid off when Police Arrested her neighbor, gary dunn, for her murder. I believe he committed this crime. But thats my belief. Based upon what i saw in this trial. Dunns trial opened in april 2010. Hiram jones listened as the state, which had already tried his son, now argued that dunn was a sexually violent man whod been stalking the young beauty queen whose bedroom window he could see across the parking lot. His own wife testified he was violent in bed with her and that weeks before nonas death shed caught him hanging around nonas front door in the middle of the night. So, said the prosecutor, the jury could be sure dunn killed nona after entering her apartment with the intent of forcing a sexual encounter. And the condom wrapper proved it. This condom wrapper that was found that had the dna on it that did not have kevins dna on it, that had his dna on it. So dna evidence, a disturbing background, an alibi that turned out to be no alibi at all. In short, it was hard to see how dunns public defenders, bill james and jeff rosenzwag, could argue against their clients lies and dna. But thats exactly what they did. And with gusto. What youre saying is the state was simply wrong. The state was simply wrong. Whats more, they told jurors, they could prove it. For starters, they said, the state wasnt being honest about the dna on that condom wrapper. It was only a mixed partial match to gary dunn, they said, which meant any thousands, millions, billions of people are also not excluded. Let me ask you, then, is what youre saying, gary dunn didnt touch that condom wrapper . Thats what were saying. He never was anywhere near that condom wrapper well, he was across the parking lot in his apartment. Minding his own business when nona was murdered. Its true, the defense said, dunn was not out shopping as he first claimed to police. Hed simply gotten his days mixed up. It was, after all, two weeks after the crime when detectives asked for a detailed alibi. Asked for receipts. They found a receipt. They gave it to the police department. Except it wasnt for that day. Well, he cooperated in full. He gave them what they asked him to do. The defense told jurors it wasnt gary dunns alibi they should question anyway, if anything, the lawyers said, they should take a look at someone else for nonas murder. Her old boyfriend. And at that moment hiram jones realized with dread just where this trial was heading. First thing you get hit with is your son is on trial again even though hes not on trial, he is. Thats part of the defense that they use. How right he was. Dunns attorneys tried to persuade the jury that kevin jones, the first suspect in the case, had one shaky story after another. The 911 call where kevins mother is crying . Her name is Nona Dirksmeyer. The defense said janice jones and kevins friend gave police conflicting details of how they came upon nonas body and what they were doing to save her. It is a lie. They are lying. Theyre all three lying. The pizza boys lying. Kevins lying. His mothers lying. Absolutely. Without any question. In fact, the Defense Attorneys tried to claim, you couldnt keep up with the joneses and all their lies. Even kevins grandmother who said she was with kevin in another town the morning of nonas death couldnt be trusted. Kevins grandmother knows that kevin murdered nona . I dont know if they know, what they know. But i know theyre covering for him. But the lawyers said kevin jones couldnt explain one thing away. That bloody palm print in nonas apartment. It was his and not gary dunns. Did it work . Yes, it did. After three days of deliberations the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial. But the prosecutor wasnt giving up. He promptly refiled murder charges and gary dunns second trial began in 2011. Now gary dunn being tried a second time after his first trial ended in a hung jury. This time the judge allowed the prosecutor to reveal a very dark fact with gary dunn. He was a convicted felon. Before nona was murdered. Jurors heard from a woman named kelly jo fitzharris, who happened to have the grave misfortune of jogging past gary dunn on the wrong day in the wrong place in 2002. Its a popular trail with runners but very isolated. Kelly jo came running by herself from that direction. She saw a man sitting here on this bench. As she ran up the trail this way she heard footsteps behind her, turned around, and the man had a huge stick. He hit her over the head with it. He knocked her down. He hit her repeatedly. And as he beat her she realized the only way for her to escape was to wriggle free. So she ran up the trail that way as quickly as she possibly could, calling for help, pretending there was someone nearby. The police came a little later. They arrested him. He spent 18 months in jail. And then, newly out on parole, he moved into nonas apartment complex, directly across the parking lot, months before nonas death. Dunns lawyers admitted it was a blow to their defense. So we had to deal with it and make it not make it any worse, do no harm. Or was it already done . This time jurors knew the man sitting in the defendants chair wasnt just a man prone to violence. He was a convicted criminal. So would a towns First Impression that kevin jones murdered the beauty queen finally be undone . The 12 people who will decide gary dunns fate weigh the evidence. Coming up the verdict. He dont have no alibi. And then that looks really bad. It looks really bad. Will there be justice for nona and her family . I knew that they were waiting to see if there would be closure. When dateline continues. lisa vo right now, hes doing his taxes. Shes doing her taxes. Theyre doing their taxes. And hes doing his taxes. lisa they uploaded their docs to tax pro go, and a tax pro does the rest. tax pro your taxes are done. man really . man 2 awesome lisa youll never look at taxes the same way again. lisa vo h r block tax pro go. Expert tax prep without the office visit. So you can do what you wanna do. Its better with block. You have fastacting power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength and speed of advil liquigels. What pain . Where does your almondmilk almond breeze starts here with our almond trees in our blue diamond orchard in california. My parents job is to look after them. And its my job to test the product. The best almonds make the best almondmilk. Blue diamond almond breeze. And my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. Ahh no, come on. I saw you eating poop earlier. Hey my focus is on the road, and thats saving me cash with drivewise. Whos the dummy now . Whoof whoof so get allstate where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. Sorry hes a baby oh no, here comes gthe neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his Xfinity Customer Service is. Im mike, im so busy. Good thing xfinity has twohour appointment windows. They have night and weekend appointments too. Hes here. Bill . Karolyn . Nope no, just a couple of rocks. Download the my account app to manage your appointments making todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Ill pass. Welcome back. Did gary dunn murder Nona Dirksmeyer . The first jury was deadlocked over that question. But at dunns second trial jurors learned he was a convicted felon and heard gripping testimony from the victim he attacked. The defense countered that the real killer was still on the loose. Nonas loved ones had waged a fiveyear battle for justice. Was their fight finally coming to an end . Heres Keith Morrison with the conclusion of what happened to the beauty queen . This was the third time the state of arkansas had tried someone for the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer and the second time gary dunn stood accused. But when they started to deliberate, his jurors werent thinking about second or third. They were thinking the first. Kevin jones, the first suspect in this case. Were any of you suspicious that maybe it was actually kevin who did this . I believe the whole jury thought in the beginning that it was, you know, a high probability that it was kevin because the defense did a really good job of getting us to believe it could be kevin. Once again dunns defense had retried kevin jones for the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer. But the jurors eventually came to a sort of peace with that. This is garys trial, and we need to look at the evidence thats against or for him. And once they did they were troubled. On the witness stand that jogger described just how brutally dunn attacked her, just as nona had been attacked. That was really a big factor in my thinking, you know, about whether he was guilty or innocent. It tied into everything else. Because thats what happened to nona. All those things. It showed dunn was a brutal man who was also a convicted felon when nona died. He even lied about where hed been that day. And he dont have no alibi. You know, and then that looks really bad. It does. It looks really bad. They also talked about the dna on the condom wrapper found in nonas apartment. Some believed the dna probably did belong to gary dunn. But that made them wonder too. If this guy was supposedly so careful to not leave no other dna or no other fingerprints in this whole crime scene, then youd think he would have been smart enough to take the condom wrapper with him. So there it was. Dna evidence against dunn. Interesting if perhaps not proof. Circumstantial evidence which was compelling. They took a poll, guilty or not. Several polls, actually. And then on the last goround they knew they were finished. They went back to the courtroom and looked at nonas family. Coming up and being in front of her parents was the hardest thing for me. I was it made me very sad because i knew that they were waiting to see if there would be closure. We couldnt do it. We couldnt give them closure. Once again the case of arkansas versus gary dunn ended in a hung jury. The more powerful reason for that . That First Impression among many here in russellville that it was kevin jones who killed Nona Dirksmeyer. In the aftermath of the trial kevin headed back to court. Not for anything he did but for the damage he said was done to him. By police. They just looked at me and said hes the one that did it. Kevin jones always believed the police zeroed in on him as the suspect in nonas death and never seriously considered anyone else. You did this no. You did it. Im telling you youre dead [ bleep ] wrong. You killed her. Kevin sued mark frost, the detective who built the case against him, and others too for withholding evidence. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit because the statute of limitations had passed. Through his lawyer frost denied making mistakes and withholding evidence and neither the Russellville Police department nor the prosecutor would comment on the investigation. Meanwhile, kevin has moved on. For reasons you may understand he became a criminal defense attorney. And get this, decided to practice law in of all places russellville. The last time we spoke kevin told us hed made peace with the one person whose opinion really does matter to him, nonas mother. She no longer believes kevin killed her daughter. In fact, she says she loves kevin. As for the others who are more cynical, he tries not to dwell on what they think or whisper about him and the girl he once loved. Nona dirksmeyer, the songbird, the beauty queen, the girl for whom justice is denied. In 2018 gary dunn was charged and found himself in handcuffs again after two incidents that occurred on the same night, both unrelated to Nona Dirksmeyer. He pleaded no contest to kidnapping and indecent exposure. He was sentenced to is a years. Barring new evidence the state does not plan to file charges against him for a third time in the Nona Dirksmeyer killing. Thats all for this edition of dateline. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. First up on msnbc, battle of new hampshire. Who is up and who is down in a new poll . Just two days until the primary and its getting fierce. And when parkgoers called on Pete Buttigieg he installed decorative lights under bridges. The gloves are off. Joe bidens new ad takes aim at one of the front runners Pete Buttigieg as both are fighting for the middle ground. The latest back and forth tells an important story. And shooting rampage t went on for several hours at a popular mall and this morning authorities admit it was worse than originally thought. Rising toll, there are new numbers to report on with the coronavirus today as